Ever wondered why they named the most universal wireless technology Bluetooth? Apparently it was named after a 10[SUP]th[/SUP] century Danish King named Harald Blåtand whose nickname was Bluetooth because one of his teeth was blue. King Bluetooth’s claim to fame is that he helped peacefully unite Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.… Read More
Semiconductor Intellectual Property
Why Sidense OTP is Like the Armored Car of NVM
I have written about Sidense before, but last week at the TSMC Open Innovation Platform Forum, I had a chance to hear a talk by, and have lunch with Betina Hold Director of R&D at Sidense. Here is what I learned.
Sidense has been focusing on the growing market in what they like to call the smart connected universe. It is best to think… Read More
Krivi Specialty I/O Library Support UMC 28nm
There is an industry consensus about 28nm, the technology node is here to stay, and to stay for very long. If we except 20nm node, which by opposition will have a very short lifetime, 28nm is the last node following the economic part of Moore’s law: designing on smaller technology allows building cheaper IC when you integrate the same… Read More
New Sensing Scheme for OTP Memories
Last week at TSMC’s OIP symposium, Jen-Tai Hsu, Kilopass’s VP R&D, presented A New Solution to Sensing Scheme Issues Revealed.
See also Jen-Tai Hsu Joins Kilopass and Looks to the Future of Memories
He started with giving some statistics about Kilopass:
- 50+ employees
- 10X growth 2008 to 1015
- over 80 patents (including
We’re Number Two, We Try Harder
One of the big surprises I got at Synopsys’ ARC conference is that ARC is #2 in terms of share of licensed microprocessor shipments. I think most readers of Semiwiki would know ARM is #1 but would guess that MIPS (now owned by Imagination Technologies) is #2. But you’d be wrong, ARC is over twice as big.
Last week Synopsys… Read More
How to Overcome NoC Validation Multiple Challenges?
NetSpeed has developed NocStudio, a front end optimization design tool helping architects to create SoC architecture bridging the gap with the back end, floor planning and place and route. At the chip level, NocStudio generates a cache-coherent Network-on-Chip (NoC) allowing interconnecting the various CPU, GPU or Acceleration… Read More
A Brief History of Apple Mobile and SoCs
The big Apple iProduct announcement was today so I thought it would be a good time to premier a draft of the Apple chapter in our upcoming book. Try as I might I was unable to get one of the 7,000 tickets to the live event (it was like getting a Willy Wonka golden ticket!) so I live streamed it from my iPhone like millions of other people. It… Read More
How MunEDA Helps Solve the Difficulties of AMS/RF IP Reuse
Reusing design IP is crucial for competitiveness. The need for reuse occurs with new designs on the same process node as the original design, new designs at the same node but using a different PDK or foundry, or designs on a different process node – usually smaller. However, achieving effective IP reuse has always been a challenge.… Read More
Semiconductor Usage Revolves Around Asia
I just read Daniel Nenni’s blog titled “Is Silicon Valley Gridlock a Good Sign for Semiconductors?” Dan, there is no definitive answer to this, I mean in terms of semiconductors. Let me call it Semiconductor Gridlock in Silicon Valley. Yes it’s good because Silicon Valley promotes research, brings up innovative technology and… Read More
Computer Vision in Mobile SoCs and the Making of Third Processor after CPU and GPU
Qualcomm’s teaser of its upcoming Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip (SoC) was supposed to make up for the issues like overheating and bad press that haunted its predecessor Snapdragon 810. Instead, the San Diego, California–based semiconductor giant chose to show off the GPU and image processing muscle. Especially, its… Read More
The 2025 Semi Industry Forum: On the Road to a $1 Trillion Industry